Valdez determined to apply finishing touch

Nelson Haedo Valdez was plucked from obscurity after being spotted by the president of Werder Bremen, who gave him a plane ticket to a new life. By Kevin Dunn

NELSON HAEDO VALDEZ, a callow and lanky 17-year-old, was playing for Paraguay’s Atletico Tembetary in the obscure depths of the South American country’s Second Division when he was approached by a stranger.

He was Jürgen Born, the president of Werder Bremen of the Bundesliga, whose wife was Paraguayan and who happened to be watching. He offered the young amateur footballer a free air ticket to Germany for a trial and Valdez has never looked back.

Now 22, he was a regular in Werder Bremen’s first team this season and his goals helped take the German club to the knockout phase of the Champions League, form that was good enough to earn him a £3m move to Borussia Dortmund last week. More importantly, his second international goal clinched Paraguay’s qualification to the World Cup finals, where they meet England in their opening game on June 10 in Frankfurt.